Vurkollak (southern corpse-vampire)
Vurkollak
Southern corpse-vampire (Elsie distinct entry): animal-jumped corpse never rots; tomb light; rises after forty days; Friday-night cremation.
Description
Elsie s.v. Vurkollak (distinct headword; does not merge with Lugat): any corpse a cat or other animal has jumped over becomes a vurkollak and never rots; a shimmer of light is seen over its tomb at night; forty days after burial it arises and wreaks havoc; such corpses must be disinterred and cremated on a Friday night. Etymology cloud: Gk. βουλκόλακας etc., Bulg./Rom./Arom./Serb. cognates (Elsie). Soft contrast with lugat physiology (nightly except Saturday; fatwa + white-stallion ordeal; yellow-flame motion; moon-eclipse possession) — related undead field, regional faces kept visible. Dhama / Shqipopedia lexical overlap acknowledged; site splits on Elsie’s separate headword + southern-specific etiology.
Features
- animal-jumped corpse never rots (Elsie)
- tomb light at night; rises after forty days (Elsie)
- disinter + Friday-night cremation (Elsie)
Lead story
In the south they watch which animal crosses a new grave. If a cat has jumped the corpse, the body will not rot. At night a thin light sits on the tomb. After forty days the earth gives him back, and the village answers with Friday-night fire — not the Saturday-rest lugat of other mouths, but the same fear in a southern word.
Aliases
Vurkollak · Vurkollaku · Vurvolldak · Vurvolldku · Vurvollak · Vurkolak
Region
Southern Albanian mythology (Elsie entry); Greek/Slavic/Aromanian werewolf-vampire contact cloud (βουλκόλακας / vukodlak / varcolac trail)